Bret Clifton

I am the music teacher/director for the K-8 North Idaho STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Charter Academy located in Rathdrum, Idaho. We are a brand new school beginning this fall in 2012.

I've been a life long singer from the earliest years in church, through secondary and into college choirs and ensembles at BYU-Idaho where I minored in Choral Education. I taught my major (History) and numerous other subjects at a small private school in Utah before getting out of teaching for a couple years and trying to partner in owning a small retail game store. That failed miserably so I am back in education:-)

I teach every single student in our school and I am a little overwhelmed at the prospect. My certification was originally 6-12 and besides the methods class I am taking this summer, I have no experience at the elementary level and very little idea at how to do the middle school grades either. K-4 will be general music classes with the 4th grade in recorders. 5-6 will be combined for choir or band (which I also have to figure out how to teach!) and the same goes for the 7-8 graders. As we are a STEM school, the emphasis and budget are in other subjects. I have a wonderful administration who is very supportive and willing to help, but is unable to provide much $$$ or other tools. So far, I have a keyboard:-)

I'm in the process of exploring what choralnet and other sources available to me might have but any suggestions, supplies, links, ideas or other helps are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!!:-)